Hip and Groin Pain
WHAT IS IT?
Hip & groin pain can be caused by a variety of factors including tendonitis, muscle strain, snapping hip syndrome, arthritis, trochanteric bursitis, and fracture. In general, hip and groin pain is caused by problems with tendons, muscles, ligaments and other soft tissues related to the hip joint. The exact location of your pain can help determine the cause. For example, injury to the hip joint will typically be reported as pain on the inside of the hip or groin.
SYMPTOMS
Hip & groin pain can be difficult for the patient to describe, other than, it “just hurts”. The location of pain often depends on the type of hip and groin injury. Common symptoms include:
-
Pain in the hip, groin or even buttock.
-
Limping to minimize pain.
-
Often patients have a difficult time describing exactly where the location of the pain is coming from in the hip or groin.
CAUSES
There are many causes of hip pain. A few of the most common include:
-
Arthritis: Typically the cause of chronic hip pain.
-
Tendonitis: The hip has a lot of tendons located around it that connect the mucles and joint. These tendons can become inflamed with overuse and cause pain.
-
Bursitis: Occurs due to overuse and/or repetitive actions around the joints of the body. Bursitis is inflammation of the fluid filled sacs (bursa) that cushion areas of pressure between muscles, joints and tendons.
-
Strains: When you put stress on a joint and muscles, tissue breaks down causing micro-tears. The body’s response is to lay down scar tissue to heal the micro-tear. When you put stress on that same area again, more tearing takes place and again more scar tissue is laid down by your body. Over time this scar tissue creates an adhesion, which tends to be more serious as they can alter your biomechanics and put new stress on different areas of the body, therefore creating another injury. The repetitive injury cycle has begun and cannot be addressed until the adhesion is properly addressed and the muscles/joints/ligaments are properly rehabilitated.
-
Note: Inflammation from arthritis, tendonitis, and bursitis can also lay down scar tissue, leading to adhesions formation and the repetitive injury cycle.
RISK FACTORS
-
Endurance athlete (ie- repeated stress to the hip joint).
-
Soccer/basketball/football/baseball sports that involve running and fast movements.
-
Elderly
-
Obesity
PREVENTION
Make sure to stretch and do exercises to strengthen muscles in the areas that support the hip. Also, if you are inactive or overweight, start to slowly increase activity over time.
TREATMENT OPTIONS
There are common treatment options available for hip and groin pain that include physical therapy, rest, ice, steroid injections, ibuprofen, shoe orthotics, and possibly even surgery. The problem with most of these modalities is that they do not address scar tissue build-up that is characteristic of an overuse or acute injury. Scar tissue is the result of the body repairing micro-tears or larger tears in the soft tissue. It’s a normal and natural response for your body to lay down new scar tissue when damage occurs, but with a repetitive injuries this cycle occurs over and over again. The result? Scar tissue build-up that turns into an adhesion and restricts normal range of motion, causing the body’s biomechanics to change.
Often we see multiple injuries in people with repetitive injuries that continue to push their body. When people only take the traditional approaches, the scar tissue component is never addressed and often the injury doesn’t ever resolve on its’ own or it takes an extremely long time. By addressing the scar tissue, the body is able to recover much faster as it allows normal range of motion for the structures and muscle involved. The common treatments available can then also become much more effective when done in conjunction with treatments that address the adhesions.
At InHealth, we take an integrated approach when treating Hip & Groin pain. One of our main treatment approaches is through hands on and instrument assisted myofascial therapy: Active Release Technique (ART) and Graston Technique. Both of these techniques are relatively new and highly successful hands-on treatment methods that address problems in the soft tissues of the body including muscles, ligaments, fascia, and nerves. Both of these treatments are highly successful in dealing with Hip & Groin injuries, because they are specifically focused on locating and treating the scar tissue adhesions that accumulate in the muscles and surrounding soft tissues. According to www.activerelease.com, the primary goals of an ART and Graston Technique practitioner are to 1) break-up restrictive adhesions, 2) reinstate normal tissue flexibility and movement and 3) more completely restore flexibility, balance and stability to the injured area. In conjunction with Active Release Technique, we also utilizes traditional forms of treatment as mentioned above, including ice, cross training so that the injured area can rest, exercises, extremity and spinal manipulation, and stretches.
In summary, InHealth provides ART/Graston to address scar tissue adhesions, exercise rehabilitation to stabilize the injury, Kinesio Taping to support the injury, and chiropractic manipulation to balance the structure of the body. InHealth also offers integrated treatment through the exceptional Acupuncture and Massage Therapists who are a part of the InHealth team. Call your Seattle Chiropractor, InHealth today to schedule an appointment at 206-315-7998.
If you have any questions, please feel free to email Kevin Rindal, Seattle Chiropractor at DrRindal@InHealthSeattle.com.
